Page 103 - Practical English Usage 3ed - Michael Swan, Oxford

Ask is sometimes used without for when talking about asking for sums of money, especially in connection with buying, selling and renting.
They're asking £500 a month rent.
How much is the car?-I'm askingfifteen hundred.
Note also the expressions ask a lot ofsomebody, ask too much ofsomebody, ask a favour ofsomebody and ask (for) permission.
2 infinitive structures
We can use infinitive structures after ask (see 282-283). ask + infinitive
I asked to go home.(= I asked pennission to go home.} ask + object + infinitive
I asked John to go home. (= I told John I would like him to go home.)
ask + for + object + infinitive
I asked for the children to have extra milk.
I asked for the parcel to be sent to my home address.
Note the difference between these two sentences:
I asked John to go home. (l wanted John to go home.)
I asked John ifI could go home. (l wanted to go home myself.)
80 at/in and to 1 the difference
At and in are generally used for position (for the difference, see 81); to is used for movement or direction. Compare:
- He works at the market. - My father lives in Canada.
He gets to the market by bike. I go to Canada to see him whenever I can.
2 expressions of purpose
If we mention the purpose of a movement before we mention the destination, we usually use atlin before the place. Compare:
- Let's go to Marcel's for coffee.
Let's go and have coffee at Marcel's. (NOT Let's gB and haVE e8ffee t6 Mareel's.)
- I went to Canada to see my father.
I went to see my father in Canada. (NOT I wtmt to see my father to Cttnadtt.)
3 targets
After some verbs, at is used with the 'target' of a perception or non-verbal communication. Common examples are look, smile, wave, frown.
Why are you looking at her like that?
Because she smiled at me.
At is also used after some verbs referring to attacks or aggressive behaviour. Common examples are shoot, laugh, throw, shout and point.
It's a strange feeling to have somebody shoot at you. Ifyou can't laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at? Stop throwing stones at the cat, darling.
You don't need to shout at me.
In my dream, everybody was pointing at me and laughing.
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atlin and to 80
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